In contrast to recent violent
protest at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, a Palestinian and a Jewish
woman from that city have created a 6-minute animated film to help young people
understand and value their differences.
Israeli Shira Avni, 28, says: "I think it's
important certainly for kids to see there are no absolutes and there's no one
who can't work together with someone who is perceived as their opposite or
their enemy." Shira's e-mail address is SAvni@artic.edu.
"Many long-held stereotypes are dispelled once
somebody gets to know the real person," says Palestinian Serene El-Haj
Daoud, who's 26. Serene receives e-mail at SereneDaoud@hotmail.com.
This has been the experience of those who enter into
authentic Dialogue.
Serene and Avni's story of friendship and shared
creativity is a model of what is possible with Palestinians and Jews on a
larger scale. That is our belief and fondest hope.
We thought this would interest
you. -- L&L

================
Published by The Canadian Press -- Canada's multimedia news agency
Thursday, October 31, 2002

Israeli and Palestinian animators
push for acceptance in
film for students

Ross Marowits
Canadian Press

MONTREAL (CP) Years before hatred exploded into violent protest at
Concordia University, an Israeli and a Palestinian quietly became friends and
hoped to shake the prejudices of those around them. Shira Avni, 28, and
Serene El-Haj Daoud, 26, hope their personal bond will become a symbol of the
acceptance that's depicted in an animated film they co-directed about an
immigrant girl's experiences in Canada.
From Far Away is the story of a seven-year-old
Lebanese girl who struggles to adjust to a new world after being uprooted from
her war-torn homeland.
The 6-minute film is based on a book by Robert
Munsch. It is part of the Talespinners series of eight short animated
films produced by the National Film Board that will be shown to hundreds of
Canadian students during the national children's book week, running Nov.
2-9 (2002).
"Every kid goes through awkward moments,"
Avni said in an interview.
Although she emigrated to Montreal as a toddler from
Israel, Avni said she related to the character in From Far Away.
So did Daoud, a Saudi Arabian-born Palestinian refugee
who arrived in Canada in 1989. Some of the film's scenes popped out of
her own memories of conflict and her first experiences in Canada.
Both women want the film to raise the acceptance
levels of Canadian students for those in their classes who may not be able to
speak French or English.
The two were among the group of young filmmakers
specifically selected to animate children's stories from around the
world.
"I think it's important certainly for kids to see
there are no absolutes and there's no one who can't work together with someone
who is perceived as their opposite or their enemy," Avni said from Chicago
where she is studying for a master's degree in animation at the Art Institute
of Chicago.
But it's their story of friendship that has garnered
as much interest as the film during previous screenings.
How is it possible, they have been asked, that a Jew
and an Arab can get along so well, especially while attending Montreal's
Concordia University?
Long a hotbed for Middle East tension, the downtown
university campus exploded in violent protest last September after
demonstrators succeeded in preventing former Israeli prime minister Benjamin
Netanyahu from giving a speech.
While their friendship began in the late 1990s during
a more hopeful period for Middle East peace, it has raised some awkward glances
from family and their respective communities.
"We're in Canada and these things shouldn't
matter where you came from," said Daoud, who admitted to having
encountered skepticism for being friends with a Jew.
"It should just come down to what your core
values are."
Many long-held stereotypes are dispelled once somebody
gets to know the real person, she said.
"They are really sister cultures if you just sat
down and looked at them," Daoud said of the Jewish and Muslim
experiences.
Avni's liberal views about the Palestinian conflict
have made acceptance easier, both agree.
She believes the Israeli occupation is only worsening
the situation.
"Everyone in the region has the right to live
their daily lives as people with dignity," she said.